Can. 1191 §1. A vow, that is, a deliberate and
free promise made to God about a possible and better good, must be fulfilled by
reason of the virtue of religion.

§2. Unless they are prohibited by law, all who
possess suitable use of reason are capable of making a vow.

§3. A vow made out of grave and unjust fear or
malice is null by the law itself.

Can. 1192 §1. A vow is public if a legitimate
superior accepts it in the name of the Church; otherwise, it is private.

§2. A vow is solemn if the Church has recognized it
as such; otherwise, it is simple.

§3. A vow is personal if the person making the vow promises
an action; real if the person making the vow promises some thing; mixed if it
shares the nature of a personal and a real vow.

Can. 1193 By its nature a vow obliges only the
person who makes it.

Can. 1194 A vow ceases by the lapse of the time
designated to fulfill the obligation, by a substantial change of the matter
promised, by the absence of a condition on which the vow depends, by the absence
of the purpose of the vow, by dispensation, or by commutation.

Can. 1195 The person who has power over the matter
of the vow can suspend the obligation of the vow for as long a time as the
fulfillment of the vow brings disadvantage to that person.

Can. 1196 In addition to the Roman Pontiff, the
following can dispense from private vows for a just cause provided that a
dispensation does not injure a right acquired by others:

1/ the local ordinary and the pastor with regard to
all their subjects and even travelers;

2/ the superior of a religious institute or society
of apostolic life if it is clerical and of pontifical right with regard to
members, novices, and persons who live day and night in a house of the
institute or society;

3/ those to whom the Apostolic See or the local
ordinary has delegated the power of dispensing.

Can. 1197 The person who makes a private vow can
commute the work promised by the vow into a better or equal good; however, one
who has the power of dispensing according to the norm of ⇒ can.
1196 can commute it into a lesser good.

Can. 1198 Vows made before religious profession
are suspended while the person who made the vow remains in the religious
institute.